Linking emotion and place on Twitter at Disneyland

A research framework for social network analytics is suggested and the process of integrating data and applying methodologies to understand visitor experiences at a destination is demonstrated.

Abstract

This study suggests a research framework for social network analytics and demonstrates the process of integrating data and applying methodologies to understand visitor experiences at a destination. We applied both social media analytics and geographic information system (GIS) analysis to identify major topics and emotional expressions in a social network. A total of 56,418 tweets sent from Disneyland in California was used for analysis. The results identified three hot spots in the park where significantly pleasant tweets were posted. How to apply the research framework is discussed, and suggestions to researchers and marketers are given.